"During Pride Month, we honor a movement that has grown stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive with every passing year," stated Biden.

While Biden has made these proclamations every year since taking office, his unapologetic support for this harmful agenda is confronted this year by the introduction of hundreds of legislative measures nationwide aimed at protecting children from gender ideology while expanding parental rights and control. 

According to legislation tracking data, more than 100 bills focused on protecting minors in health care, sports, bathrooms, education and the public square have been enacted since 2022, while 373 bills remain in the legislative process. An additional 246 bills have failed in committee hearings or were voted down.

Biden noted these legislative efforts calling it an "inflection point," and expressed his heart is "heavy with grief" over the opposition that is fighting to protect America's youth.

Biden's proclamation stated, "In 2023 alone, State and local legislatures have already introduced over 600 hateful laws targeting the LGBTQI+ community. Books about LGBTQI+ people are being banned from libraries. Transgender youth in over a dozen States have had their medically necessary health care banned.  Homophobic and transphobic vitriol spewed online has spilled over into real life, as armed hate groups intimidate people at Pride marches and drag performances, and threaten doctors' offices and children's hospitals that offer care to the LGBTQI+ community."

According to Liberty Counsel's own research, nearly 30 states have either enacted or are considering bills giving greater parental control over sexual education materials in public schools. Also, at least 20 states have banned biological males from competing on female sports teams and at least 18 states now prohibit puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilating surgeries for children. In addition, 10 states have passed protections for minors in public and school restrooms, and seven states either require parental notification when students change their pronouns or do not compel the use of pronouns that do not align with a child's biological sex. Currently, North Dakota followed by Montana, Tennessee, and Florida lead the way with a combined total of 33 enacted laws protecting children from gender ideology. Conversely, Delaware is the only state without any pending legislation to protect children.

Notably, individual state laws such as Idaho's "Vulnerable Child Protection Act" goes as far as making it a felony for anyone who "knowingly authorizes" or provides "gender-affirming" health care to youth under the age of 18. Kansas' "Women's Bill of Rights" legally defines male and female based on a person's reproductive anatomy at birth. And several states have adopted the "Save Women's Sports Act" protecting women and girls in sports from gender-confused males.

Data shows that tens of thousands of adolescents struggling with gender dysphoria are undergoing some kind of medical intervention through surgical mutilations or hormonal drugs. But with more and more states across the country standing up to the gender ideology agenda, it is estimated that nearly one-third of these adolescents now live under these protections.

Biden stated in his proclamation that the Department of Justice and other agencies will combat these laws signaling the gender ideology agenda has the full weight of the federal government behind it.

Ironically, Biden signed the declaration "in the year of our Lord."

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "The gender ideology agenda is an affront to the truth that God made us in His image and that He made us male and female. Joe Biden signing this proclamation 'in the year of our Lord' makes a mockery of the faith of millions of Americans. He is deliberately pushing an agenda that is contrary to our nation's foundational values and he is blind to commonsense logic that children need to be protected from the devasting and sometimes irreversible effects of gender ideology. All states need to continue to take a stand against this evil and it is those decisions that will change history."

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SOURCE Liberty Counsel

CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org